In order to conduct international banking operations, an extremely large, extensive, complicated and expensive infrastructure is absolutely required. Each country around the world has its own unique rules, regulations and requirements for who can provide banking services in that country.
Typically, only large multinational financial institutions such as Chase Manhattan Bank, the assignee of the present invention, has the resources to provide such international banking services. Furthermore, even among large financial institutions, not all of them are members of the various clearing systems (e.g., Trans-European Automated Real-Time Gross settlement Express Transfer system (Target), Real-Time Gross Settlement systems (RTGS) and the MultiLateral Net Settlement systems (MLNS) in Europe).
Because of the lack of an international presence, most banks accordingly had developed relationships with regional banks in different parts of the world. When a client of the bank (for example in the United States) desires to conduct a transaction in a different part of the world (Germany for example) the bank contacts its associate and coordinates the transaction with a correspondent bank. Accordingly, if a bank has clients which require international banking services, the bank must establish and maintain relationships with a multitude of correspondent banks throughout the world. The maintenance of these various relationships is both cumbersome, expensive, and time consuming both with respect to the bank and its clients.
International services typically required by customers include: direct payment initiation (high value (wire) and low value (Automated Clearing House (ACH) check disbursement)); receipt of credits of funds (both high value and low value including check deposits and collections as well as locks box processing); timely balance and transaction reporting; liquidity management (Automated Investment (Sweeps), netting and pooling of grouped accounts); timely and attentive customer service in the local time zone; and purchase of checks in foreign currencies at their local branch office.